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’ Morality in Cormac McCarthy s Fiction ThisfinestudyofourgreatestlivingpoetinprosearguesforMcCarthy’s“impassionedand consistentmoralvision,”andthatMcCarthy“remainsasintriguedbythemysteryofgoodness asheisbythemysteryofevil.”AsappliedtoMcCarthy’sSouthwestnovels,includingBlood Meridian,theBorderTrilogy,NoCountryforOldMen,andwithachapteronMcCarthy’s PulitzerPrize-winningTheRoad,Hillier’sapproachtowhathecalls“McCarthy’sexamina- tion of goodness striving to prevail in a dark world and wide” is presented with a rare combinationofintellectualclarityandforce.Thisisabookthatisboundtobeenjoyedand tostimulatelivelydiscussionamongstMcCarthyenthusiastsbothprofessionalandprivate. PeterJosyph,authorofAdventuresinReadingCormacMcCarthy,andCormacMcCarthy’s House:ReadingMcCarthyWithoutWalls Itisentirely appropriate thatRenaissanceman (andscholar)RussellHillier hereturnshis attentiontowhathecallsCormacMcCarthy’s“Renaissancemind.”Hillierjoinswriterssuch as Edwin Arnold, Dianne Luce, and more recently Lydia Cooper and Matthew Potts in focusing on the moral engagement of McCarthy’s works, and he is often surprising and always illuminating in drawing out McCarthy’s debts to Dante and Donne, Ovid and Marlowe—allusions that have not been as commented upon as those to the likes of FaulknerandHemingway,forinstance.Thisclearandincisivestudywillbeatouchstone. StaceyPeebles,editorofTheCormacMcCarthyJournal,USA Few arguments about Cormac McCarthy’s novels, plays, and screenplays have seemed as insoluble as whether his work features any definable moral compass. In this meticulously researched and elegantly written volume, Russell Hillier has rendered disputatious CormackiansaboonbypouringmorefuelonthefirekindledbycriticslikeDianneLuce, LydiaCooper,ManuelBroncano,andPetraMundik.Hilliernotonlyarguesconvincinglyfor anethicalandevenheroicvitalitytothemaster’sworks,butstakesoutnewandimportant territory by demonstrating McCarthy’s indebtednessto neglected sourceslike Milton and Shakespeare.ThisisasignificantadditiontoourexegeticalliteratureaboutMcCarthy. RichardWallach,SocietyOfficerforTheCormacMcCarthySociety,USA InthenowfervidworldofCormackiancriticism,RussellM.Hillier’sstyleandvoicestand outfortheirdeftnessandelegance.Hisprobingandinsightfulintertextualitybringstobear theinfluenceofJob,Ovid,andDostoevsky,amongmanyothers.HisvindicationofJohn GradyColeasstoicandtragicheroisasupliftingasitisneeded,andhiscriticalconsideration ofTheCounselorwillbecomeaprimaryresource. AllenJosephs,ProfessorofEnglish,UniversityofWestFlorida,USA InMoralityinCormacMcCarthy’sFiction,RussellHillierapplieshisconsiderableknowledge of the Western literary tradition to expand in an extraordinary way our understanding of Cormac McCarthy’s rich ethical vision. The book is elegant, insightful, and manifestly original.Whilerootedinthescholarship,Hillierbringsliteraryandphilosophicalcontexts tobearthathavelargelybeenuntouchedbyothers.Thisisaworkthatwillemergeascentral toMcCarthystudiesforyearstocome. StevenFrye,PresidentoftheCormacMcCarthySociety,USA RussellM.Hillier Morality in Cormac ’ McCarthy s Fiction Souls at Hazard RussellM.Hillier ProvidenceCollege Providence,RhodeIsland,USA ISBN978-3-319-46956-0 ISBN978-3-319-46957-7(eBook) DOI10.1007/978-3-319-46957-7 LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2016958524 ©TheEditor(s)(ifapplicable)andTheAuthor(s)2017 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher,whetherthewholeorpartofthematerialisconcerned,specificallytherightsof translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval,electronicadaptation,computersoftware,orbysimilarordissimilarmethodology nowknownorhereafterdeveloped. Theuseofgeneraldescriptivenames,registerednames,trademarks,servicemarks,etc.inthis publicationdoesnotimply,evenintheabsenceofaspecificstatement,thatsuchnamesare exemptfromtherelevantprotectivelawsandregulationsandthereforefreeforgeneraluse. Thepublisher,theauthorsandtheeditorsaresafetoassumethattheadviceandinformation in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publishernortheauthorsortheeditorsgiveawarranty,expressorimplied,withrespectto thematerialcontainedhereinorforanyerrorsoromissionsthatmayhavebeenmade.The publisherremainsneutralwithregardtojurisdictionalclaimsinpublishedmapsandinstitu- tionalaffiliations. Coverillustration:©DaveStevenson/AlamyStockPhoto Printedonacid-freepaper ThisPalgraveMacmillanimprintispublishedbySpringerNature TheregisteredcompanyisSpringerInternationalPublishingAG Theregisteredcompanyaddressis:Gewerbestrasse11,6330Cham,Switzerland For Serafina A CKNOWLEDGMENTS A portionofthismaterialhas previouslyappearedelsewhere. ChapterFive was originally published in a slightly different form as Russell M. Hillier, “‘Like some supplicant to the darkness over them all’: The Good of John Grady Cole in Cormac McCarthy’s Cities of the Plain,” The Cormac McCarthy Journal 14.1 (2016): 3–36. Copyright © 2016 The Pennsylvania State University Press. Stacey Peebles is the editor of The Cormac McCarthy Journal. This article is used by permission of The PennsylvaniaStateUniversity Press. The granting ofpermission touse the foregoingmaterialaspartofthepresentstudyisgratefullyacknowledged. WhentheprojectwasexperiencingitsgrowingpainsIalsopresentedorts andfragmentsofthisbookatTheCormacMcCarthySocietyConferenceat Berea College, Kentucky, in March 2013; The American Literature Association’s 25th Annual Conference in Washington, D.C., in May 2014; The American Literature Association’s 26th Annual Conferencein Boston, Massachusetts, in May 2015; and The American Literature Association Symposium: Frontiers and Borders in American Literature in SanAntonio,Texas,inFebruary2016. IfirstofallwishtothankBenDoyle,thestalwartPublisherforLiterature at Palgrave Macmillan, and a fellow admirer of McCarthy, for first seeing themeritoftheproject,forhissplendidvisionofwhatthehumanitiesisand should be, and for the energy and cheer with which he shepherded me along at each step of the way. I should also express my gratitude to Eva Hodgkin and Camille Davies, the Editorial Assistants for Literature at PalgraveMacmillan,foralltheirhelpandunderstandingatvarious,slightly frantic stages of editing. I am no less thankful to Swathy Deepak, project vii viii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS manager at Springer Nature, and her team. I am indebted to the anon- ymousreviewersoftheoriginalmanuscriptforthecareanddiligencewith whichtheyevaluatedandrespondedtomywork;notleast,Ithankthemfor theirrecognitionofandappreciationforMcCarthy’sdeepmoralvision. I am grateful for the warmth, generosity, and good humor of those McCarthy scholars who welcomed into the fold this relative outsider to the fieldandencouragedhisideas.ImentionespeciallyRickWallach,whotook everycaretomakemefeelathomeinTheCormacMcCarthySociety;Steven Frye,whoonapostprandialwalkthroughWashington,D.C.,firstsuggested to me the merit of developing a project dedicated to McCarthy’s use of intertextuality;andStaceyPeebles,forherboundlessenthusiasmanddedica- tionand,notleast,forsharingwithmeherimpeccabletasteinTexascountry andfolkmusic.IwouldalsoliketothankthoseMcCarthyscholarswhohave helpedtokeeptheflameofinspirationalightingenialconversationconducted quitesolemnlyinside,andmoremerrilyoutside,theconferenceroom,among them,PeterJosyph,AllenJosephs,DianneLuce,GeneYoung,PhilSnyder, LydiaCooper,BenjaminWest,KevinTrumpeter,andWallisR.Sanborn,III. ProvidenceCollege’sgrantingofsabbaticalleavemadeitpossibleformeto workonthisstudy.IamgratefultoProvidenceCollegeforrelievingmeofmy ordinary college teaching and service responsibilities and for giving me the opportunitytodedicatemytimetoresearchingthisprojectduringthisperiod ofleave.Ishouldalsoacknowledgethoseformerundergraduatestudentsof minewhoseworkIsupervisedonandoffoverthepasthalf-decadeforsenior thesesoroncoursesofindependentstudyonMcCarthy.Theirenthusiasmfor McCarthy’swritingswasinvigorating.IamthinkingofMatthewHannigan, ThomasR.Cody,BrendanQuigley,andAnneMarieMcLean. My scholarshipisonlyever possible because ofthe love, understanding, andsupportofmyfamily.Mybeautifulandlong-sufferingspouseAlyssahas once again been the pattern of all patience as I researched, composed, revised,andeditedmysecondbook.Hergoodness,faith,andinnerstrength remain an example to me. My mother and father, who instilled in me an admiration for learning and the wisdom that comes from it, continue to remindmeofthelightattheendofthetunnelandhelpmetofindthegood in all things. Our six-year-old daughter Serafina may one day solve the enigma of why her father can find words and books as fascinating and wonder-workingaspicturesandtoys.Serafinamademefeelmoreneglectful than she can know in her willingness to keep me company while I was composingandrevisingthemanuscript.Forthematchlessjoyshehasalready giventous,Idedicatethisworktoher. C ONTENTS 1 Introduction 1 Notes 13 2 “Givethe DevilHis Due”: JudgeHolden’sDesign inBloodMeridian 15 Notes 49 3 “Antic Clay”?: The CompetingEthicalAppeals ofBlood Meridian 53 Notes 90 4 “AKnowing Deep inthe Bone”: CowboyStoicism and Tragic Heroism inAll thePretty Horses 95 4.1 John Grady’s Constancy andthe Ideaof Fellowship 96 4.2 John Gradyin Paradise 103 4.3 John Gradyin Adversity 108 4.4 John GradyAfterAll 114 Notes 124 5 “Like SomeSupplicant tothe Darkness OverThemAll”: TheGood of JohnGrady Colein Cities of thePlain 127 Notes 158 ix x CONTENTS 6 “Nothingis CruelerThana Coward”: No Country forOld MenandThe Counseloras Tragic Fables ofthe ContemporarySouthwest 161 6.1 Squandered Worldsin NoCountryfor Old Men 164 6.2 Riding the Hellbound Train inThe Counselor 231 6.3 Conclusion 245 Notes 248 7 Coda—The Goodof Story inThe Road 263 Notes 276 Bibliography 279 Index 295 CHAPTER1 Introduction [N]ot again in all the world’s turning will there be terrains so wild and barbaroustotrywhetherthestuffofcreationmaybeshapedtoman’swillor whetherhisownheartisnotanotherkindofclay. McCarthyBloodMeridian5 Hands from which all those blessings had flowed. Hands I never tired to lookat.ShapedintheimageofGod.Tomaketheworld.Tomakeitagain andagain.Tomakeitintheverymaelstromofitsundoing. McCarthyTheStonemason132–33 This is a time of foison in McCarthy studies. In just over three decades, critical interchange on the nature of his works has come a long way from Vereen Bell’s assertion of a prevailing nihilism in McCarthy’s fiction and worldview. In Bell’s 1983 landmark essay “The Ambiguous Nihilism of Cormac McCarthy,” Bell judged that “Cormac McCarthy’s novels are as innocent of theme and of ethical reference as they are of plot” (31). Five yearslater,inhisbook-lengthstudyTheAchievementofCormacMcCarthy (1988), Bell somewhat qualified his former adamancy, but still proposed that McCarthy’s novels had an “antimetaphysical bias” built into them (2),whichrestedon“nofirstprinciples,nofoundationaltruth”(9).Since Bell’s pioneering critical endeavor to grapple with the meaning of McCarthy’s early novels, modifying and opposing scholarly voices have benefitted from increased knowledge and opportunity to understand the author’s purpose. First, the corpus of McCarthy’s works has grown, ©TheAuthor(s)2017 1 R.M.Hillier,MoralityinCormacMcCarthy’sFiction, DOI10.1007/978-3-319-46957-7_1

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This book argues that McCarthy’s works convey a profound moral vision, and use intertextuality, moral philosophy, and questions of genre to advance that vision. It focuses upon the ways in which McCarthy’s fiction is in ceaseless conversation with literary and philosophical tradition, examining
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